Stocks End the Day Flat

Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Stock prices dropped after a bleak forecast on the economy from the head of the Fed, but recovered a bit to end the session.

While the Dow closed down 13 points and the S&P lost two points, the Nasdaq gained a fraction.

Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin Bernanke says the economy’s not growing as fast as the Central Bank would like to see. For now, it’ll continue its program aimed at keeping interest rates low with the hope of encouraging more borrowing and spending.

Bernanke complains that hiring is still sluggish. A newly released survey shows that could be the case for a while. The Business Roundtable says 36 percent of CEOs plan to add workers over the next six months. That’s down from 42 percent when the survey was last taken three months ago.